Persian Tiles Eastern Jewels Blanket

At last I have finished this blanket. I have been crocheting it for about 3 to 4 years on and off. I decided to knuckle down and get it finished. So here it is.

Beautiful colour palette

It is made up of 16 hexagons and these are put together with squares and triangles and then a border is put around the edging.

I love the colours and how they all complement each other. The designer is Janie Crow and she has a couple of different colour options. Crocheted in Stylecraft Special DK wool.

So pleased to get it finished and start something new although it will not be a blanket for a while!

Take care and stay safe

WoolwomanAndrea

Great Tit

Just a quick note on a visitor to my garden today.

It is my first project crocheted from the book Crocheted Birds by Vanessa Mooncie. It is meant to be knit in 4ply wool and be the size of a blue tit, but I only had DK wool, so it is a bit bigger.

The instructions was good. I had a few rip outs, but mainly due to me reading it incorrectly. My hubby helped with the wire feet.

Great fun to make.

Keep safe WoolwomanAndrea

Mossy Way Jumper

Hi everyone, I hope you are all staying in and staying safe. My thoughts are with everyone who has been affected by this terrible virus.

I have eventually finished a jumper! It is Mossy Way by Carol Feller. It is knit in Double Knit yarn and I used Drops Lima mix (65% Wool 35% Alpaca) in Green 0705. It is knit in 4mm needles, so is quite a quick knit and the construction is unique.

It is knit from the top down with beautiful side cables and ribbing down the sleeves. This was a knit along by Carol Feller, so the pattern includes links to videos and tips to complete the jumper.

Beautiful side cablework

I enjoyed knitting it and would knit another. I knit the third size for a 38.5 inch chest and it weighs 502g, so I used 11 balls of wool, making it quite economic.

Off to finish off a pair of shorty socks. Take care ❤️🌈 WoolwomanAndrea

Catching up

Hi everyone, it has been a while since my last post due to work, life etc but I have still squeezed in some knitting. From the start of January I was knitting a mystery KAL by Carol Feller Siog Stripes and so could not post about this. Below are the stages. It was an interesting knit as it used a few different techniques.

Siog KAL – centre spine plus one wing

The wool is DK Winterburn from Baa ram ewe which is a blend of 50% Bluefaced Leicester, 25% ecru Masham and 25% dark brown Masham. The first part was a narrow centre spine knit in double row garter stitch with a DNA shaped cable. I used a 4mm needle.Then you picked up the stitches down the edge of the spine which gradually got narrower and mirrored this on the other side. Finally, I added 3 tassels. It was an enjoyable knit but I don’t think it is really me.

Finished Shawl

Take care everyone, WoolwomanAndrea

Mossy Ways

At the moment I am knitting Carol Feller’s Mossy Way jumper. It is a top down jumper with a ribbed top part and a cable down each side. I started it Christmas and making slowish progress. At Christmas when I am off work for a week, I am full of procrastinations of what I will knit and crochet and weave and sort out, but then when I am back to work, my energy saps!!!

Mossy Ways

Although the construction is different, the pattern is easy to follow. It is knit with Drops Lima mix. This is a double knit yarn (65% wool, 35% alpaca) and is the closest affordable substitute yarn I could afford. I am using 4mm circular needles.

I am on the middle of the jumper, knitting around and around, so it is easy enough. It should fit, but not sure if I will like it.

I am also giving The Crochet Circle Podcast a mention, as my top tip was included in this. If you like to Crochet, please do visit as Fay’s vlogs are full of information and detail. I have learned so much from them.

Thanks for reading

WoolwomanAndrea

New Year Thoughts 2020

Hi everyone,

I hope you all had a good holiday and some time for knitting, crocheting or enjoying your favourite craft.

I apologise for the length of time since my last blog. Life just seemed to overflow in December. It is now the beginning of a new year and I will have to get my life back to balance.  

So, this year I am trying to focus and expand my ‘crafting mind’ and have made a list of items to make/finish during 2020. Also, I plan not to buy any more wool but to use up my stash!  

Over the holidays, I did enjoy some knitting and crochet time. I completed 4 more hexagons from my Persian Tiled Blanket by Jane Crow. I bought this kit from my local wool shop, about 2-3 years ago and am making slow progress on it. 

As you can see, it is not something easily done in front of the television as there are lots of yarn changes and stitch changes, so for me this is a stop/start project. The pack of wool and partially completed blanket has been in my daughter’s bedroom for the past year with no movement accumulation, so I thought I had better work on it.

I worked the other hexagons individually, but this time decided to complete 4 at once ie. crocheting the middle of all 4, then the next round of all four etc – making sure I picked up the correct colour.  The instructions are quite clear but in the middle of Christmas on goings, it would be easy to make a mistake. Happily, all went smoothly and I now have another 4 blocked hexagons to add to my blanket.  I have had my fill of this and it is now packed away for another while. Don’t get me wrong, the hexagons are easy enough to make as the instructions are really clear and the colours are a joy.  My husband also made me a blocking thing to make sure all the hexagons are the same size.

I also finished a pair of fingerless mittens Peterswell by Carol Feller. I like the way the cables evolve from the rib at the start of the mitten and it let me practise some cablework. 

To finish I am now working on a jumper for myself – I had crocheted a circular yoke jumper at the end of last year and have decided to cast on a knitted jumper. More about this on my next blog.  

Happy crafting

WoolwomanAndrea

First Crocheted Jumper

I finished my first crocheted jumper! Happy! It fits me and is light and cosy. 

It is a  Scandi Jumper and the yarn is Drops Air which is 65% alpaca, 28% polyamide and 7% wool. It is like crocheting with roving and sometimes I thought it was going to break.  I bought it last year during the drops sale which is on again this year.

The stitches are all straight UK treble and UK double crochet and it was made on a 4.5mm and 4mm. The bottom and cuffs were to be more of a rib; crocheting through the back of the loop and the front of the loop – but I misread this and crocheted through the front of the V. So, it isn’t really a rib.  However, I did master this stitch for the neckband and it was easy and effective – I don’t know why I didn’t do it for the bottom and cuffs!

I made the two sleeves first and then the body in the round. This was fairly repetitive and the body looked too big but when the yoke went on, it pulled the jumper in more.  The coloured yoke made up quickly as it got smaller and smaller and was addictive seeing how the new colours worked. I did not make the hood as I don’t think I would have enough of the blue wool.

I really enjoyed making this jumper and would make another with a proper rib and maybe an alternative yarn as I fear that this may felt when washed.

Happy crocheting 🧶

WoolwomanAndrea

Current WIPs

Hi everyone, I can’t believe a week has passed by already.  A quick update on my current WIPs.

I am now on the coloured part of the yoke for the Scandi Jumper At the weekend I joined the sleeves to the main body and then started the colourwork.  It is lovely to see how the colours develop and is quite additive; it is worked in English double crochet.

 

Again, I am not sure about my tension as it looks quite big, but I’ll see. The next round is a decrease which may pull the yoke and neck in. I have never knit or crocheted a round yoke jumper before but it is quite exciting and it is great there is little sewing up to do.

My other WIP is a knitted Shadow Blanket . This was to give myself a rest from crocheting and once you get into the pattern is a simple garter stitch.  My plan was to knit this whilst following the telly; however, once I started on the coloured yoke of the crocheted jumper, I have paused the blanket!

I am going to work on the jumper until it is complete and then I can continue with the blanket and will have to start something else!

Happy knitting, crocheting or whatever you enjoy.

WoolwomanAndrea

 

New Rib Hat

Hi – just a quick update on my Colourwork Hat. I frogged the coloured rib and picked up the stitches from the first row of the colourwork.

Then I knit about 4 inches (10 cms) of two x two rib and used a loose cast off which I had used on a sock rib. Then I added a multi coloured pom-pom.

Success! And it fits me. I would definitely knit another one with this rib .

Happy knitting

WoolwomanAndrea 🧶😊

Curly Edge

Hi everyone. Following on from my previous blog, I finished my colourwork hat! Hurrah!

My bubble soon burst when I tried it on. The coloured rib edge is quite tight and keeps curling up. I was going to block it to see if this would help, but I think it would still be too tight. So I plan to pick up the stitches at the start of the colourwork pattern and replace the coloured rib with a good old fashion knit 2 / purl 2 rib.

I’ll keep you updated.

Happy knitting 🧶

WoolwomanAndrea